Page:Our Hymns.djvu/119

 THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 99

&quot; The praises of my tongue.&quot; No. 964.

This is part of song viii. of Watts &quot;Divine songs ior Chil dren.&quot; It is headed &quot; Praise to God for learning to read.&quot;

SAMUEL WESLEY JUN., M.A. 16901739.

LIKE his father, Samuel the elder, and like his younger brothers John and Charles, Samuel Wesley, jun., was a hymn- writer. Even in childhood he showed a taste for poetry. He was sent to Westminster School in 1704, was admitted a King s scholar in 1707, and in 1711 was elected to Christ s Church, Oxford, where he remained till he had taken his M.A. degree. Being a man of great classical attainments, he was appointed one of the ushers at Westminster School. He held this position for twenty years, and in 1732 was appointed head master of the Free School at Tiverton. There he remained till his death, in 1739. He took orders in the Church of England, and was considered a good preacher, but he did not receive any preferment. He was not in sympathy with the religious views of John and Charles, but, trained in high-church principles, used his best efforts to turn his brothers from what he called their &quot; new faith.&quot; He was the author of &quot; Poems on Several Occasions,&quot; published in 1736, and a second edition in 1743. Some of his pieces evince much poetical talent, and some of his hymns are very good. There is only one by him in the &quot; New Congregational Hymn Book,&quot; a good Sabbath hymn :

&quot; The Lord of Sabbath let us praise.&quot; No. 764.

EGBERT SEAGRAVE, M.A.

BORN 1693.

AN honourable place amongst hymn-writers belongs to Robert Seagrave, some of whose hymns will probably yet be better

H 2

�� �